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DISASTER PLANNING & PROOFING Emergency POWER PROPER PREPARATIONS PROTECT THE LIFEBLOOD OF ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS By David Rosenberger H 40 Medical Construction & Design | January/February 2013 There are essentially four basic reasons for an emergency power system to fail: > Generator location > Fuel contamination > Generator overload > Poor maintenance Generator location The unfortunate reality is essential emergency generators are usually relegated to the lower bowels of the facility where most electrical and mechanical equipment resides. In many instances, this is also one of the most vulnerable locations in a facility with the most potential for disaster. When flooding occurs, these essential areas of a facility can quickly become submerged under water, rendering a generator useless. Common sense says: "get the generators above the potential flood levels." The primary issue with moving generators to higher levels of a facility is weight and vibration, as well as some pretty expensive real estate typically reserved for patient care. But when comparing the cost of increasing the structural elements of a facility or the cost VLADIMIR MELNIK/DREAMSTIME.COM ospitals are marvels of technology, housing the latest in diagnostic equipment, imaging equipment and state-of-the-art OR suites featuring minimally invasive procedures such as robotics. All technology is designed to improve the health and well-being of the patient, promote recovery and lessen the length of hospital stays. The one thing this technology cannot live without is electric power. Engineers and architects of healthcare facilities design with redundancy in mind. Backup power with multiple levels of protection is designed to ensure the most reliable power systems to keep the essential elements of a hospital operational. Emergency generators become the lifeblood of a medical facility. If it's a child or loved one in a hospital bed during a disaster or worse yet, on an operating table, and the utility power fails, no price is too high to ensure the emergency power system keeps things running. However, most recently, on Oct. 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast with a ferocity few expected. At New York Universitiy's Langone Medical Center, backup generators failed, which meant the evacuation of all 215 of its patients. Patients at New York's Bellevue Hospital and New Jersey's Palisades Medical Center were also evacuated when generators failed. With elevators out of service, respirators unable to work and vital monitors inoperative, well-trained hospital staff had to carry patients down nearly nine flights of stairs while using hand masks to keep patients breathing. www.mcdmag.com